Research by Avanade shows that IT is moving away from decision making and budgeting, and playing a more consultative role with management

With technology disrupting businesses and their processes all over the world, it stands to reason that the role of IT will similarly change. Previously, IT had taken on more of an auxiliary role within businesses, being more of a support for infrastructure. Now, as tech gets more and more interwoven with business processes, IT departments across companies are beginning to transition into a more planning-related, management-oriented role.

Just how is this changing role of IT occurring? This is what a recent survey by Avanade, a global business technology solutions and managed services provider, aims to determine. Partnering with Wakefield Research and surveying over 1,003 C-level executives, business unit leaders and IT decision makers globally, Avanade’s research shows that technology budgets and decision-making are increasingly migrating away from IT departments, with IT taking on more consultative roles in enterprises.

45 per cent of budgets allocated in 2014 for technology are now controlled by business departments outside of IT

86 per cent of business leaders believe they can make technology decisions better and faster without the involvement of IT

86 per cent of respondents are comfortable with IT staff interacting directly with important clients and partners in a consultancy role, and 69 per cent of companies plan to expand the role IT plays as business advisors in the next year

Business leaders want IT to build skills in key areas that will help them solve business problems for stakeholders in a digital world, with 49 per cent of them looking for more skills in cloud services, and 46 per cent wanting service and system integration expertise

63 per cent of respondents say the IT department today has an “employee-centric culture”, and 69 per cent of these companies report their IT departments contribute more to accomplishing the objectives of the business than they did three years ago.

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